General
Differences between SAE and AAVE
|
SAE |
AAVE |
|
Verbs
show person and number agreement in the present tense. |
Verbs
other than be do not show person and number agreement in the present
tense. |
|
Irregular
verbs, unlike regular verbs, show a distinction in form between past tense
and past participle forms (ate vs. eaten) |
Irregular
verbs, like regular verbs, do not show a distinction in form between past
tense and past participle forms; past tense forms are used where SAE uses
past participle forms. (ate, no eaten) |
|
The
verb be has three forms in the singular present: first person am
(reducible to ’m), second person are (reducible to ’re),
third person is (reducible to ’s). |
The
verb be has two forms in the
singular: first person am (reducible to ’m), and non-first
person is (reducible to nothing with subjects other than it;
reducible to ’s with it). |
|
The
verb be has one form in the plural present: are (the same form
as the second person singular, reducible to ’re ). |
The
verb be has one form in the plural present: is (the same form
as the second person and third person singular, reducible to nothing). |
|
The
verb be has two forms in the past tense, a singular form was and
a plural form were. |
The
verb be has one form in the past tense, was. |
|
The
negative contracted form of is not is isn’t. |
The
negative contracted form of is not is ain’t. |
|
There
are four aspects in SAE: simple, perfect, progressive, and perfect progressive. |
The
number of aspects in AAVE appears to be greater: simple (used to indicate
ability or occasional activity in the present), progressive, perfect, perfect
progressive, habitual be form, ‘long time’ been form, perfect
‘long time’ been form, perfect progressive ‘long time’ been form,
completive done form, ‘long time’ completive been done form,
perfect ‘long time’ completive been done form. |
|
Among
auxiliaries and lexical verbs, only modals fail to inflect to agree in the
present tense. |
Among
auxiliaries and lexical verbs, only non-habitual be (be
auxiliary in progressives and copular be) inflects to agree in the present tense. |
|
If
a primary auxiliary appears as the first verb in the VP, it must inflect for
tense and agreement. |
Habitual
be, ‘long time’ been, and completive done are invariant even if they appear as
the first verb in the VP. |
|
A
progressive or perfect auxiliary as the first verb in the VP will serve as
the operator will serve as the operator when an operator is needed. |
A
progressive or perfect auxiliary as the first verb in the VP will serve as
the operator will serve as the operator when an operator is needed; habitual be,
‘long time’ been, and
completive done do not serve as operators under any
circumstances. Instead, do is
used with be, and have is used with been and done. |
In
the AAVE data, the only clear lexical verb is eat, which has three
forms: eat, eating, ate.
As
in SAE, lexical be acts the same as the progressive auxiliary be in that it can act as an operator in emphatic and negative
constructions. We identify it as a
lexical verb because it does not cooccur with another verb (just as we do in
SAE).
In this
data, there are a number of auxiliaries (which are clearly auxiliaries, since
they can act like operators in emphatic and negative constructions),
progressive be (which reduces to m, s, and nothing),
perfect have (which reduces to a and nothing), modals (will (a), should, may, might).
The forms which cause difficulties are (1) the invariant habitual be; (2) the completive done; and the “long time” stressed been. None of these forms can serve as operators. In the cases of been and done, it seems likely that these are not truly the first verbs in the VP: whenever an operator is needed another auxiliary have appears, which suggests that it merely reduces all the way to nothing in the present tense. The invariant be habitual is more difficult since the auxiliary that appears when it needs an operator is do, which otherwise does not cooccur with auxiliary verbs. It is possible that we should treat be (and maybe the other two forms discussed here) as invariant markers that aren’t full-fledged auxiliaries or main verbs, but invariant particles that affect the structure of the following verb.
|
|
SAE |
AAVE |
|
Simple: |
inflected
lexical verb (LV) (inflects for both agreement and tense) |
inflected
lexical verb (LV) (doesn’t inflect
for agreement, only for tense) (1a-g,
5) |
|
|
inflected
lexical be (is reduces to ’s; am reduces to ’m; are
reduces to ’re) |
inflected
lexical be (reduces to nothing if the verb is is and the
subject is not it; am reduces to ’m; is reduces to ’s after
it. ) (30-32) |
|
|
modal
auxiliary + uninflected LV |
modal
auxiliary + uninflected LV (same as SAE) (9) |
|
Emphatic: |
stressed
inflected do + uninflected LV |
stressed
inflected (only tense-marked) do
+ uninflected LV (3) in
the past tense, variant had + uninflected LV (4) |
|
|
stressed
inflected be |
stressed
inflected (agreement distinct only for first person) be (39-40) |
|
|
stressed
modal auxiliary + uninflected LV |
stressed
modal auxiliary + uninflected LV (Same as SAE) (11) |
|
Negative: |
inflected
do + not/n’t + uninflected LV |
inflected
(only tense-marked) do + not/n’t + uninflected LV/past form of
LV (5) |
|
|
contracted
inflected be + not inflected
be + n’t |
’m
/’s/nothing
+ not (33, 37, 40) ain’t (34, 35, 38) |
|
|
modal
auxiliary + not/n’t + LV |
modal
auxiliary + not/n’t + LV (same as SAE) (10) |
|
Perfect: |
inflected
have auxiliary + past participle
of LV |
in
the present tense, past form of LV (47) in
the past tense, past tense have
auxiliary + past form of LV(51) |
|
Emphatic: |
stressed
inflected have auxiliary + past participle of LV |
stressed
inflected have auxiliary + past form of LV (47, 53) |
|
Negative: |
inflected
have auxiliary + not + past participle of
LV |
inflected
have auxiliary + not + past form of LV (49, 52) in
the present tense ain’t + past form of LV (48) |
|
Progressive: |
inflected
be auxiliary + LV+ing |
inflected
be auxiliary (or nothing in some forms of the present tense) + LV+ing (19-21, 41) |
|
|
modal
verb + uninflected be + LV+ing |
modal
verb + uninflected be + LV+ing
(same as SAE) (44) |
|
Emphatic: |
stressed
inflected be auxiliary + LV+ing |
stressed
inflected be auxiliary + LV+ing (28-29) |
|
|
stressed
modal auxiliary + uninflected be + LV+ing |
stressed
modal auxiliary + uninflected be + LV+ing (same as SAE) (46) |
|
Negative: |
inflected
be auxiliary + not/n’t +
LV+ing |
ain’t + LV+ing
(22, 24, 27) |
|
|
modal auxiliary + not
+ uninflected be + LV+ing |
modal auxiliary + not
+ uninflected be + LV+ing (same as SAE) (45) |
|
Perfect
Progressive: |
inflected
have auxiliary + been auxiliary + LV+ing |
in
the present tense, been
auxiliary + LV+ing (54) |
|
|
modal
auxiliary + uninflected have auxiliary + been auxiliary + LV+ing |
modal
auxiliary + a + been auxiliary + LV+ing (same as
SAE speech)(61) |
Emphatic: |
stressed
inflected have auxiliary + been auxiliary + LV+ing |
stressed
inflected (only tense-marked) have auxiliary + been auxiliary
+ LV+ing (57), (60) |
Negative: |
inflected
have auxiliary + n’t + been auxiliary + LV+ing |
in
the present tense, haven’t + been + LV+ing; (55) in
the present tense, ain’t been + LV+ing (56) |
|
|
modal
auxiliary + n’t + have
+ been auxiliary + LV+ing |
modal
auxiliary + n + a + been auxiliary + LV+ing (same as spoken SAE) (62) |
Other aspects: |
|
|
|
be habitual |
Not part of SAE |
uninflected be + -ing form of
lexical verb (78) |
Emphatic: |
|
stressed
do + uninflected be + -ing form of lexical verb (80) |
Negative: |
|
don’t + uninflected be +
-ing form of lexical verb (79) |
|
been ‘long time’ |
Not part of SAE |
in the present tense, stressed been + LV+ing
(“for a long time”) (81) in the past tense, stressed been + past form
of LV (“a long time ago”) (85) in the past perfect ‘long time’, had +
stressed been + past form of LV (“a long time ago”) (89) |
Emphatic: |
|
in the present tense, stressed have + stressed
been + LV+ing (“for a long time”) (84) in the past tense, stressed had + stressed been
+ past form of LV (“a long time ago”) (88) in the past perfect ‘long time’, stressed had
+ stressed been + past form of LV (“a long time ago”) (91) |
Negative: |
|
in the present tense, ain’t/ haven’t + stressed been +
LV+ing (“for a long time”) (82-83) in the past tense, ain’t/ hadn’t + stressed
been + past form of LV (“a long time ago”) (86-87) in the past perfect ‘long time’, hadn’t +
stressed been + past form of LV (“a long time ago”) (90) |
done completed |
Not
part of SAE |
in the present, done + past form of LV (92) in the past, had + done + past form of LV (95) modal + a + done + past form of LV
(98) |
Emphatic: |
|
in the present, stressed have + done + past form of LV (marginal) (94) in the past, stressed had + done + past form of LV (97) |
Negative: |
|
in the present, ain’t + done + past form of LV (93) in the past, hadn’t + done + past form of
LV (96) |
be done habitual completed |
Not
part of SAE |
uninflected
be + done + past form of LV modal
+ uninflected be + done + past form of LV |
Emphatic: |
|
stressed
do + be + done + past form of LV |
Negative: |
|
don’t
+ be
+ done + past form of LV modal
+ n’t + uninflected be
+ done + past form of LV |
been done completed a long time ago |
Not
part of SAE |
in the present, stressed been + done + past form of LV (99) in the past, had + stressed been + done + past form of LV (103) |
Emphatic: |
|
in the present, stressed have + stressed been + done + past form of LV (102) |
Negative: |
|
in the present, haven’t/ain’t + stressed been
+ done + past form of LV
(100-101) |